Ritual affiliation turns out to be an illuminating aspect of Wu Yongdao’s cult, and not just regarding the command over dark troops. More generally speaking, the consecration documents found inside the god’s statues constitute a trove of data that speaks volumes about the ritual traditions supporting the cult.
Several statues in my own collection and that of Patrice Fava’s provide rather straightforward clues about the “ideology” informing Wu Yongdao’s godhood.
Among those, an extremely comprehensive example is a statue from Anhua
62 Yongle Dadian fangzhi jiyi 永樂大典方志輯佚 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 2004), 3: 1883–84.
consecrated in 1799.63 This statue’s internal documents state that the consecration is carried out “in accordance with the intent of the Great Dao” (于大道意者). More poignantly even, the same document refers to Wu Yongdao as a “founding ancestor who obtained the Dao” (De Dao Taizu 得道太祖).
Fig. 2: Statue of Wu Yongdao from 1799 (collection PF) Fig. 3: Consecration document from inside the 1799 statue.
Quite straightforwardly, thus, we can see that there existed in Wu Yongdao’s native region iterations of his cult that were conceived according to the highest aspirations of “the Dao.” Regardless of whether this statue is consistent with others, the existence of this discursively Daoist version of Wu Yongdao must be taken into account.
Continuing with the same document, the god’s efficacy is opened up by talismanic orders that situate the god within an overwhelmingly Daoist cosmology and bureaucratic structure. There are two rubrics within the talismanic orders used for consecration: (1) the command that invokes the god’s presence on the “seat of Lord Wu Yongdao” (Wu jun Yongdao wei 吳君永道位), and (2) the higher powers to which Wu Yongdao is made subservient. The command itself, as far as I can tell, offers little additional indication about its ritual belongings—except for the
63 Collection Patrice Fava.
significant fact that the title “Lord” (jun) is used in Hunan to classify gods as ritual masters in the vernacular tradition.
Yet the second rubric, detailing the higher powers, is clearly Daoist. The first five items, especially, could barely be more specific: (1) Purple Tenuity (Ziwei 紫微), followed by (2) Great Yang (Taiyang 太陽) and Great Yin (Taiyin 太陰), after which is embodied (3) the Jade Emperor (Yuhuang 玉皇), and again (4) the powers of Thunder (Lei 雷). Element (5) is the talisman representing Golden Radiance (Jinguang 金光), the written Daoist equivalent of a transubstantiation spell.64
Though not visible on the outside of this statue, its efficacy is rooted in Daoist principles.
Such links to Daoist power structures are not unique to a single statue from Anhua, but found in other statues as well: it is a consistent feature of this local cult. In addition to the descriptions found in the statue of 1799, most statues contain talismanic registers that endow them with the command over specific warriors, or that otherwise relate them to Daoist command structures. In a statue from Ningxiang 寧鄉 (about thirty kilometers west of Changsha) consecrated in 1846 and reconsecrated in 1902, many such talismans are included.
64 See John Lagerwey, Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History (New York: Macmillan, 1987);
also see my further analysis in Mark Meulenbeld, “From ‘Withered Wood’ to ‘Dead Ashes’:
Burning Bodies, Metamorphosis, and the Ritual Production of Power,” Cahiers d’Extrême Asie 19 (2010): 217–66.
Fig. 6: Statue of Wu Yongdao from 1846 (collection MM).
Fig. 7: Consecration document from inside the 1846 statue.
In a long sequence of individual talismans (fig. 8) that immediately precedes the text of the consecration address, the first talisman summons “celestial troops” (tianbing 天兵) by using a multitude of characters for “cart” [che 車] and “bull” [niu 牛]) to indicate the tremendous sound of a large army. The next two talismans are also for summoning spirit-troops, giving the following command: “Horses galloping like flying clouds, execute these orders speedy as fire” 飛雲走馬, 火速奉行. These eight characters are embedded in (or attached to) a talismanic character embodying
“Thunder Fire” (leihuo 雷火). Adjacent to this pair of two talismans, another one embodies Yin and Yang alongside a beautifully written “Fire Bushel” (huodou 火 斗). And, after another version of the command to obey swiftly as fire, the authority of Purple Tenuity is invoked. Further down this line-up, one talisman summons the Twenty-eight Thunders (Ershiba Lei 二十八雷) of the four seasons.
Fig 8: Sequence of individual talismans from the 1846 statue.
Individually, only the talismans referring to Yin/Yang and to Purple Tenuity are more or less clearly of Daoist origin. Taken together, however, with talismanic commands for Thunder, a distinctly Daoist repertoire emerges.
The sequence of talismans totals forty-eight. Some are at the core of Daoist ritual guardians, such as the ancient Six Ding and Six Jia (liuding liujia 六丁六 甲; fig. 9 below, second from left). Others embody the “Five Hundred Savage Thunders” (Wubai manlei 五百蠻雷; below, fifth from left) that are ubiquitous in Daoist collections of exorcistic rituals such as the Unified Origins of the Dao and Its Rituals (DZ 1220 Daofa huiyuan 道法會元). And, stressing the spread of specific Thunder traditions, yet others invoke the presence of the famous Five Thunders (Wulei 五雷; below, third from right). In line with the conception of this god’s efficacy in relation to other local authorities, the God of the Earth is mentioned (Tudi 土地; below, third from left), and several talismans invoke “Immortal Master of the Nine Oxen” (Jiuniu xianshi 九牛仙師) and the “Ten Great Inspectors of Furies, who command the troops” (Zongbing shida duchang 總兵十大都猖).
Fig 9: Second sequence of individual talismans from the 1846 statue.
These patterns of ritual affiliation are repeated in yet other cases, such as a statue of Wu Yongdao that records a consecration date of 1893.65 Although its ties to any specific geographical location are not stated in the consecration documents, which only provide the individual names of the sponsoring He 賀 brothers, the ritual affiliation is clear.
65 Collection Mark Meulenbeld.
Fig. 10: Statue of Wu Yongdao from 1893 (Collection MM).
Fig. 11: Consecration document from inside the 1893 statue.
Like its peer from Ningxiang, this statue can boast a similar arsenal of military resources, first among them the Thirty-six Thunders (Sanshiliu Lei 三十六雷;
below, third from right) that are the stock in trade of Daoist ritual and of popular story-cycles since the Ming dynasty. Less well known to the greater public but no less important within Daoist ritual are the Generals of the Three Primes (Sanyuan Jiangjun 三元將軍; below, second from left). Here, too, the God of the Earth is invoked (below, far right).
The clearest indication about a specific ritual tradition, beyond generalizing labels like Daoist classical ritual or vernacular ritual, comes from a talisman invoking the powers of Zhang Wulang 張五郎. This talisman, which says “Wulang the Altar-toppler” (Fantan Wulang 翻壇五郎; below, fourth from left), belongs to the Yuanhuang tradition of vernacular ritual, presided over by the god Zhang Wulang.
Fig. 12: Sequence of talismans from inside the 1893 statue.
The Yuanhuang tradition is clearly important for our understanding of the link to Daoism. Before elaborating on this aspect, a brief survey of an additional set of 183 talismans included the 1893 statue will drive home the connection with Daoism more generally speaking, and the ritual correlation among the statues here treated.
First of all, aside from Thunder traditions forming a conspicuous presence throughout these talismans, two divine guardians of Daoist ritual are mentioned by name and rank, namely Numinous Agent Wang (Wang Lingguan 王靈官) and Prime Marshal Ma (Ma Yuanshuai 馬元帥). Both these warrior-gods have a long pedigree in Daoist ritual; their particular pairing of Wang and Ma is representative of Daoist traditions in Central Hunan.
Fig. 13: Second sequence of talismans from inside the 1893 statue. From left to right: Wang and Ma; Thirty-six Thunders; Five Thunders; and the “Ten Great Inspectors of the Furies.＂
If Wang and Ma more strictly represent Daoist ritual, together with the Thirty-six Thunders, there are other gods that rather belong to the vernacular sphere. Particularly telling are the repeated presences of, again, the “Ten Great Inspectors of the Furies” (Shida Duchang 十大都猖), and several sets of five talismans embodying the presence of the “Five Furies” (Wuchang 五猖) of the Five Directions. In the vernacular traditions of Hunan these are commonly linked to Zhang Wulang, who is not only the patriarch of the Yuanhuang tradition, but also the local commander of the Five Furies.
Despite the differences marked by the nominal and linguistic distinction between practitioners of vernacular and Daoist rituals (upheld by priests and scholars alike), the vernacular masters occupy a position within a continuum of the celestial hierarchy that also includes Daoist masters. That is to say, even though they each practice a distinct repertoire of rituals, at the same time their practices are entirely compatible. So much so, in fact, that it is rare to find a Zheng Yi Daoist in central Hunan who is not also versed in vernacular rituals. Aside from Schipper’s sweeping statements about the kinship between the vernacular and classical traditions, with vernacular rituals representing “the lowest rank in the Daoist hierarchy” 66 and classical rituals embodying a more elevated stratum of culture,67 consider the situation in Hunan. First, the Daoists in Yangyuan Village 楊源村 (my fieldwork base) started out as vernacular ritualists 24 generations ago during the late Yuan dynasty and did not learn Daoist rituals until 7 generations later, in the mid to late Ming. This liturgical mobility—vernacular masters acquiring certification for practicing classical, Daoist rituals—is identical to what I encountered in Keelung 基隆, Northern Taiwan.68 In both Hunan and Taiwan it is seen as a move upward—
liturgically but also socially, with Daoist priests serving during communal rituals, as leader of communal leaders. Note that many vernacular priests in Hunan also have learned rituals that are commonly understood to represent Daoism, most notably the ke 科. For Taiwan, Schipper points out that the basic programs of vernacular and classical rituals are interchangeable.69
To drive home the profound relevance of Daoism for our understanding of Hunanese vernacular traditions (and for their own self-definition!), I have previously described how the divine patriarch of the vernacular Yuanhuang tradition is mostly
66 Kristofer M. Schipper, The Taoist Body (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 50.
67 Schipper, “Vernacular and Classical Ritual in Taoism,” 47.
68 My main informant, Li Tenglong 李騰龍, is fifth generation fashi, and only third generation daoshi. During my two years of intensive fieldwork with his son, Li Wuji 李戊己, moreover, I have seen firsthand that they recruited acolytes with backgrounds as diverse as spirit mediums, vernacular ritualists, and even practitioners from bajiajiang 八家將 troupes.
69 Schipper, “Vernacular and Classical Ritual in Taoism,” especially 36, 47.
known for his failed pursuit of Daoist ritual knowledge. This divinity, Zhang Wulang, is given such impossible tasks by “the Most High Old Lord” (Taishang Laojun 太上老君), so difficult to solve, that the Old Lord’s daughter (Jiji 急急) helps him, falls in love with him, and ends up marrying him. The name Jiji is a synecdoche for Daoist ritual, captured by the oft recurring phrase “Swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!” (Jiji ru lüling 急急如律令). Thus, I wrote some years ago, Zhang Wulang “has become an acquaintance of the ‘Most High Old Lord,’ and has been affiliated to the Lord’s family, but he was never admitted into its inner circles.” 70 And, “In the end the fruits for Zhang Wulang are bittersweet: on the one hand he remains an outsider to the Daoist mysteries represented by the Most High Old Lord, on the other hand he is wedded to them, literally, via his relationship with the Old Lord’s daughter Jiji. In terms of formal apprenticeship, Zhang Wulang is never allowed to enter the Old Lord’s altar, so that he never manages to learn any secrets of Daoist ritual and remains standing apparently unsuccessfully ‘In Front of the Hall’.” 71 The term “In Front of the Hall” (Dianqian 殿前) is taken from ordination documents in which the locus of vernacular authority is defined in the following manner: “Yuanhuang Ritual Court of the Authentic One, In Front of the Hall of the Most High Old Lord” 太上老君殿前正一元皇法院.72 It is used locally in vernacular manuscripts to refer to the Yuanhuang tradition, and thus captures the basic relationship between the Daoist sanctus sanctorum of the Old Lord’s Hall, and the court outside, where Zhang Wulang practices his martial tricks: during the late imperial period the term Dianqian was used as an official title for the Palace Guard, the army defending the regime of their noble masters.
70 Meulenbeld, “Dancing with the Gods,” 126.
71 Ibid., 129.
72 Ibid., 122.
Conclusions
While the presence of card-carrying Daoists is not always a given for the cult of Wu Yongdao, close scrutiny of the core aspects that inform his godhood makes clear that the cult is exceedingly difficult to disentangle from the scope of Daoism.
The cult is an amalgam of different elements that are not always directly available for classification, nor for discursive articulation as “ideology,” yet upon closer inspection most appear to be emerging from Daoist ritual lore. This is either because they are distinct segments from a larger Daoist repertoire, or because they are served by ritualists who themselves are to be classified as Daoists, and their kin.
The composite nature of this local cult simultaneously cuts across lines that have been drawn between “popular religion” as a distinct realm for autonomous activities of lay-people, on one hand, and named institutions like Daoism with ordained priests who represent standardized cosmologies, on the other. If scholars have already shown how Daoism visibly interacted with some local cults, or even how it has openly absorbed and transformed other local cults, the same should be recognized on a much more nitty-gritty level: the Daoist involvement with local cults even if they cannot self-evidently be classified as “Daoist,” or when Daoists appear to be absent.
Less weight should be given to modern snapshots of a present-day cult’s continued life in the absence of Daoist (or other) priests, and more to an understanding of the rituals in which the cult has been embedded historically.
In cases where a paucity of available materials does not allow for a fine-grained analysis, there are still two things to be considered before drawing conclusions. First, as the old maxim goes, absence of evidence cannot simply be taken as evidence of absence. Second, seeing as Daoism has played a formative role in the history of so many local cults in different parts of China, scholars should take it more seriously as a possibly systemic factor within the construction of the Chinese sacred. Simply to ignore it seems to be misunderstanding a significant aspect of the interaction between local cults and mainstream traditions in the longue durée of Chinese history.
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